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Lynda Bellingham apparently can’t wait to strip off on stage for Calendar Girls the musical.

The TV actress – star of the Oxo ads and Faith In The Future – will take Dame Helen Mirren’s starring role in the West End version of the hit movie about a group of British housewives who bare all for a charity calendar.

Lynda, 60, told the Daily Express: “I hope the audience all stand up and cheer when we take our clothes off.”

The new stage production will also star Sian Phillips, Patricia Hodge and ex-Coronation Street actress Gaynor Faye. The women will cover the modesty with comedy household props such as knitting, flowers and currant buns.

The play will open in Chichester Festival Theatre in September, then tour in Scotland before opening in London by Christmas.

Like the hit 2003 film, starring Dame Helen and Julie Walters, the musical is based on the true story of Angela Baker and the other members of Rylstone And District Women’s Institute in North Yorkshire.

They made headlines when they decided to publish the calendar in 2000 to raise money for Leukaemia Research after Angela’s husband John died of leukaemia.

A percentage of the royalties from the musical tour will also go to Leukaemia Research.